The California Association of School Transportation Officials (CASTO) recently announced the organization is sponsoring AB 760, which specifies education finance, local control funding, pupil transportation, cost-of-living adjustments and add-ons.
CASTO President Tony Peregrina released to School Transportation News the following statement:
Ongoing funding for school transportation in California has been at a relative standstill since the 1980s. Since then costs have outpaced 1980s funding levels, and school district general fund dollars have covered the cost increases. Based on the latest available data, collectively over $1 billion of school district budgets are covering the ‘gap’ between 1980s funding and 2010s costs, statewide. For these reasons CASTO (California Association of School Transportation Officials) is sponsoring AB 760 with California School Employees Association, the California School Board Association, and Elk Grove Unified School District. AB 760, authored by Assemblymember Cooper, provides a long-overdue cost of living adjustment to the 1980s funding levels and a proportional increase based on each school district’s disproportional ‘gap.’
AB 760 was introduced on February 19 by sponsor Assemblymember Jim Cooper. The bill amended section 2574 and 42238.02 of the Education Code. The bill would begin with the 2019-2020 fiscal year, and require the amount of funds received for pupil transportation programs be adjusted by a cost-of-living calculation.
The bill hearing was postponed in the Assembly Education Committee. However, the hearing was then canceled at the request of the author.
